Bubblegum Punk

Bubblegum punk is the strain of pop punk that takes its cues from bubblegum pop and the *Ramones*: three-chord songs, handclap-ready choruses and lyrics about crushes, snacks and teenage boredom, played fast and without aggression. Where mainstream pop punk polished itself for radio, bubblegum punk stayed deliberately amateur and sweet-toothed, with bands like *The Queers* and *Screeching Weasel* treating 1960s girl groups and *The Beach Boys* as much as influences as the Sex Pistols. Its hallmarks are nasal harmonies, one-two-three-four count-ins, songs rarely passing three minutes, and a cartoonish, self-deprecating humour that keeps the music closer to a garage band's joke than to a manifesto.